On politics in the Golden State

Exit polls indicate Prop. 19 not driving voter turnout

November 2, 2010 | 4:44
pm

Is Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana, drawing voters to the polls? Not so much, according to exit poll data.

According to preliminary exit poll data, only about 1 voter in 10 said that his or her main motivation to vote in this election was Prop. 19. The big winner in the motivation derby: the race for governor between Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman. Roughly half of voters surveyed said that was their motivation for voting.

The Senate race between incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican Carly Fiorina drew a lot of attention nationally, but among California voters it was a distant second, registering as the main motivation for only about 1 in 4 voters.

Voters younger than 40 were slightly more drawn by the marijuana contest than older voters, but even among the younger voters, Prop. 19 came in third.

The California exit poll, part of the National Voter Pool Survey, was conducted by Edison Research for The Times, the major television news networks and the Associated Press. It surveyed some 2200 voters at precincts across California and was supplemented by a telephone survey of people who voted by mail.